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Geographically speaking, further disappearance of this bird would be nearly impossible.
A rogue eagle appeared about 4,700 miles from home in eastern Canada on Wednesday. For months the Steller’s sea eagle has been luring North American birds with its peculiar gait eastward.
“As far from your origin as you can be,” said Andrew Farnsworth, senior researcher at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. “It’s mind blowing.”
Steller’s sea eagles are rare arctic birds with bright orange beaks and a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet, which means they can be larger than bald eagles. Their native ranges are typically China, Japan and Korea and the east coast of Russia. While some have flown as far east as western Alaska, none are known to have appeared near the Atlantic Ocean.
Since first spotted on Alaska’s Denali highway last august, the bird slowly wandered inland. Detected in Quebec and New Brunswick In July with a prominent white spot on the left flank. After escaping humans for several months, it has resurfaced in Nova Scotia this week.
“It’s crazy. It really is. It’s one of those things that is puzzling,” said Nate Swick of the American Birding Association. “Every time it pops up in a new place, there’s a new round of it.”
Acadia University biologist Phil Taylor spotted the eagle while combing ducks Wednesday afternoon in Falmouth, Nova Scotia.
Working on bird migration, Dr. “I immediately knew what it was,” Taylor said. “I couldn’t believe it. Something like that is one in a million.”
That afternoon, Dr. When Taylor sent a warning to other birdwatchers, a crowd of about 40 (some of whom had driven for several hours) gathered to catch a glimpse of the out-of-place bird phenomenon.
Dr. Jake Walker, one of Taylor’s colleagues in the biology department, asked permission from a webinar to join the crowd.
“As soon as he heard that, he started pumping adrenaline,” said Mr Walker.
The same bird is likely to have strayed south in South Texas this spring. However, its unique wing pattern could not be confirmed as it was only seen perching. “Anything is possible at this point,” said Mr. Swick. “The fact that he might have taken a break in Texas is as plausible as anything.”
Going to Texas or not, the bird’s flight broke records. “This epic adventure is over,” said Alexander Lees, a biodiversity researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University in England. book on bird vagrancy.
Vagrancy describes how birds continue to wander – potentially indefinitely – in search of others of their own kind that deviate from their course. This is not uncommon. Dr. There are records of albatrosses living as vagrant bachelors for decades in the wrong hemisphere, Lees said. In a reverse example from earlier this year, a bald eagle winged towards japan.
Birdwatchers dream of wild landscapes, says Nick Lund, who works at Audubon in Maine and considers himself lucky to see a large black hawk native to Central and South America. in your hometown in 2018.
“It would be like an elephant walking from Africa to Scandinavia,” said Mr. Lund. “It’s like getting a call that the Rolling Stones are playing in the field behind a warehouse in the town next door.”
Dr. Lees said vagrancy as a biological mechanism could help migratory birds expand their range and provide a potential advantage as global warming redraws the contours of suitable habitat. Dr. Conversely, extreme weather conditions, which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as climate change progresses, could also play a role in evacuating birds hundreds or even thousands of miles, Farnsworth said.
But what’s next for pioneer Steller’s sea eagle? It can migrate along the coastline with native bald eagles. It may find its way back to Northeast Asia. It may stick to Nova Scotia as it is well adapted to the cold and can survive there. It can die out of range of its original pack.
Dr. “It’s like a bird soap opera,” Lees said. “We are all rooting for it. Will he bring it home? Or is he doomed not to see another species of his own throughout his life?”
For now, all the human audience can do is keep an eye out.
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